Volleyball star Lucy Wicks looking to net a place in Team GB squad (From This Is Local London)

Volleyball star Lucy Wicks looking to net a place in Team GB squad

10:30am Saturday 23rd June 2012 in London Olympics 2012 - Latest News By Ian Wadley

POOLE’S Lucy Wicks is confident her decision to fly the nest will help her prosper back home at London 2012.

Wicks has been honing her skills for the past three years by plying her trade in Germany for Bundesliga outfit Alemannia Aachen.

The former Wessex Volleyball Club star is in line for Team GB selection when the women’s indoor volleyball squad for this summer’s Olympics is announced next week.

An experienced international with 83 caps, she is aiming to help the host nation upset the odds against some of the sport’s heavyweights.

And Wicks believes her time in Germany has stood her in good stead for GB’s Games quest.

She told the Daily Echo: “It has been brilliant to play in Germany.

“A lot of other European countries have a professional set-up and the league in Germany is very strong.

“If I was playing in this country, my competitive game would not have improved so much.

“It was great when we were based here because we were based in England full-time for a few years right at the beginning. We were training full-time from September to April and we would have a little bit of competition. Then, in the summer months, we would have international competitions.

“But now that we go away and play professionally from August through to May, we are getting competition all year round, which is good.”

Looking ahead to Friday’s selection news, Wicks added: “We started off with a squad of 20 at the end of April. The final 12 will be announced on June 29.

“There are some key players who are regulars in the starting line-up – I am one of those and there are a few of us like that.

“The competition for places is very high because it is the most important summer of our careers so far.

“Everyone has been working very hard this year and everyone has upped their game.

“Players who, a year or so ago, you would have thought wouldn’t make the squad have come back this summer and made people think they need to watch their backs.”

Wicks is one of a number of ex-Wessex players in Olympics contention, with Dan Hunter (men’s indoor), Gregg Weaver and Zara Dampney (both beach) among Dorset’s volleyball hopefuls.